Nightly Excursions
by Cackling Grackle
Summary: What Matthew does to pass the time in the trenches.


**Nightly Excursions**

A cloud doused the light of the moon taking away the eerie blue glow and replacing it with velvet blackness.

Matthew looked up at the sky and felt a smile appear on his face. They would go tonight.

He ran through the trenches until he found one of his friends sleeping in a dirty hollow he had dug in the trench wall. Matthew put his hand over the man's mouth and his eyes opened with a start. He nearly cried out before he saw who it was and he immediately calmed. Matthew took his hand away and pointed up at the sky. The man looked. He smiled, stood up and walked back down the trench. Matthew walked in the other direction stopping at each man he found and waking him quietly.

Soon they were gathered together, ten or so men each with something large and long in his hands. One of them peered over the edge of the trench before turning back and giving them a silent thumbs-up. They crawled out of the ditch one by one and made their way through the rows of barbed wire and out into the open. They crouched low over the mud and bodies to avoid detection and ran quietly across the expansive no-man's-land until they reached the barbed wire on the other side. Matthew carefully memorized the maze of sharp wire as he led the others through to the trenches.

They lay down at the edge of the German trench, behind the sandbags placed along the edges. They shushed each other eagerly and lay in silence. It didn't matter how long they had to wait, it would be well worth it, but they didn't have to wait long. Soon a head came bobbing up from the nearby dugout and moved along just below the trench line. Matthew saw a splash of blonde and a spark of blue and he shifted to get a better view through the cracks in the sandbags.

Ludwig.

Excitement filled Matthew and he felt suddenly giddy. Not only had someone come, but it was Germany himself! He shifted again and felt the man next to him elbow him in the ribs. The man gave him a look that said, "Don't move."

Right, he thought, wouldn't do to give himself away so soon.

The head moved closer and they all felt the anticipation rising. This was it. Ludwig entered their full line of sight and they watched him pass, waiting for the signal from Matthew.

It never came.

It was too much; the anticipation was unbearable and Matt could not contain it any longer. He pounced. Ludwig looked up with surprise and moved his arms to cover his face, but it was too late. Matthew brought the bat down with a shout and felt it connect with something solid.

Taking this as the signal the others jumped out as well, all swinging their own home-made bats with deadly accuracy. His own bat was just wood, but Matthew knew that some of the others had found nails and attached them so that they stuck out to cause more pain. He heard the sickening crunch of bone and felt blood spatter his face and hands and it made him giddier.

A shout came from their left and they all stopped mid-motion and looked over wide-eyed to see three men in German dress running out of the dugout. They bolted.

Matt climbed over the wall desperately and ran through the barbed wire without looking to see if the others were with him. In this game it was every man for himself. He broke out into no-man's-land at a sprint. A sh*t-eating grin spread on his face as a bullet shot past his head and he ducked another, feeling glee shoot through his stomach. Almost there. The adrenaline was pumping, his heart was thumping and he felt alive. Nothing could stop him.

He finally reached the barbed wire and ran through the well memorized layout, falling into the mud at one point to avoid another bullet. He stood again and dove for the safety of the trench. He landed with a thump and pulled himself up to sit up against the side, panting. Something fell down beside him. His friend sat up next to him panting. Matthew could see the glint of teeth as the man smiled. They high fived tiredly and sat in silence as the others returned. Four hadn't made it back, but that was nothing new. Half the men who went on trench raids never came back.

He glanced up. The moon had gone below the cloud line now and he could tell it was nearly morning. His guard shift was over.

He stood and brushed off his pants nonchalantly, smearing who-knew-what on his hands and lags and walked off through the trenches. He made it to a dugout that glowed softly with candlelight and ducked inside. In the warmer air he smelled tea and looked over to find Arthur drinking cold tea and reading an old newspaper. The man took another sip and without looking up he said "Where have you been?"

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><p>Hey!<p>

This was just a stupid little thing I wrote at school while I was waiting for the word on my computer to be fixed so it's not amazingly fantastic or anything, but I hope you enjoyed it!

Check out my other story, Ardeur de la Vie (chapters! Yay!), on my profile, because really I don't feel like giving you a link (plus it will give you the thrill of the hunt... sort of)


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